


No Vacancy

by garilin



Series: 10-Word Prompt Fics [1]
Category: The Wolf Among Us
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 14:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12110256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garilin/pseuds/garilin
Summary: Bigby's apartment gets smaller by the day.





	No Vacancy

Anger came easiest to Bigby, but that wasn't what he was feeling now. Right now, he had a sunken, slow-beating heart and a chill in his abdomen. Pity, he identified the emotion as. It wasn't one people expected of him.

Good thing, because otherwise Toad would never have agreed to hide out at Bigby's apartment for a few days, just 'til his next paycheck when he could get him and his son glamours. He should probably get one for Colin, too, while he was at it, though the pig was low priority. Snow was being generous, going along with Bigby and pretending she hadn't seen Colin since he was first sent to the farm.

However. As each day passed by, Bigby lost a little more hope. Change took time to implement, he knew, but to say that _nothing_ was different from when Crane was in charge...It hurt to think he couldn't count on her to be on his side. To bend the rules to save someone's life, or better it. It hurt that she was prepared to send TJ to the Farm, the boy he'd thought she'd bonded with over dead insects. The boy whose farewell gift she'd yet to open.

They'd been through a lot together, her and him. Even before the Crooked Man's mess, he'd thought of her as an ally. Someone bright, beautiful, caring, someone who protected people. Someone he would have died for. Not that there were many people Bigby wouldn't die for, mind.

He sternly reminded himself that only a week had passed since Crane's disappearance.  

"Mister Wolf?" a voice asked, young and vulnerable.

Bigby spared a moment to wonder if _he'd_ ever sounded like that, calling out for his mother. The thought of her made a patchwork of age-old grief and threadbare, exhausted fury twist in his gut. It made him miss when he ran with other, smaller wolves in Europe. Before Snow had found him and dragged him here to play guard dog.

"Yes, TJ?" he questioned, distant but kind. Or his best attempt at kind.

"Have you ever been to the Farm? Is it really so bad?"

"I'm not allowed. You'd have to ask Colin...On second thought, don't. Ask your father." Colin was two-thirds of the way to blackout drunk. Bigby figured if he couldn't trust him to be kid-friendly sober, it was best to keep TJ out of his sorry excuse for a kitchen.

"Dad's never been there."

"Hasn't he?" That was surprising.

"He hasn't been out of the city since we came here."

TJ's mouth was pulled into a miserable, downward curve, his hands folded around each other on his stomach. He looked wholly uncomfortable in Bigby's armchair.

"Where's your father now?"

"He's in the bath."

Bigby peered around his apartment for a distraction, finding nothing. He was tempted to stand up off the floor for a better vantage point, but he didn't want to alarm the boy. What did TJ usually do to keep himself occupied? He couldn't go outside to collect more bugs. Bigby's cramped home didn't have the room for exploring or games like tag. His bath wasn't large enough even for tiny TJ to go for a swim. Perhaps Bigby could sneak him down to the river after dark. With Toad's permission, of course. Maybe Toad would come along. It could improve his move, if nothing else. 

"Have you heard of Europe?"

TJ squinted over at him, a tad offended.

"Sorry. I just--I know you don't go to school."

TJ nodded, easily forgiving the slight.

"Europe is a continent and is has...a lot of countries. I don't know much about the people there, though I've been through nearly every one. There's a lot of open space. Fields, lakes, wildlife. There are cities like this, one, too, but I stayed out of those. I was a wolf all the time, back then. It's colder there, for the most part, though I know someone who still somehow managed to get heatstroke."

"What's heatstroke?"

"Heatstroke happens when your body gets too hot. It was a mild case, though. He was fine."

Bigby figured he was on the border of annoying the kid. He hadn't spent so much time around children since he was a pup himself.

Thankfully, Toad came out of the bathroom then. "Oh, no. You are not indulging that nasty habit in front of my son!"

It took a second for Bigby to realize he'd been about to light a smoke. Flushing guiltily, he nodded at the amphibian and decided to flee before the walls closed in on him. Three people in a non-smoking, pathetic mockery of a family room was a bit much for him to deal with after a long day of dealing with Snow and Bluebeard.

Colin stopped him on his way out the front door.

"Hey, hey. Bigby, come here."

Bigby sighed, but did as requested. Colin looked and sounded well for drunk, but the stench gave him away. Bigby made a mental note to pick up some air fresheners on his way back next time he left.

"You look tired. Get in any fights today?"

Considering Bigby's reputation as a brawler, he supposed that was a fair question to ask.

"No, but there was a chase. It ended when the suspect suffered a collision with a mini-van."

"Dead?"

"Not quite."

"What a shame."

The two shared a tired smirk. "You know I'm going to make you wear a glamour, right?"

"Bigby, that is an argument for another day," Colin urged. "Though, I do have something I've been wondering about. About our guests."

"All three of you are my guests, Colin," Bigby reminded, but without any real heat.

Colin gave him a long look. It would have been more effective if he could've stopped blinking. "This is serious business, Bigby."

"Alright. Out with it."

"Do frogs hatch from eggs?"

Bigby snorted. "They sure do."

"So TJ came from an egg?"

"Toads and frogs are different things, Colin. And TJ's not a real toad."

Colin hummed, suspicious. Bigby took that as his clue to get out the door. He could smoke at the Trip Trap. It would be good to spend time among the people. Maybe Woody would be there; they could buy each other drinks. Reminisce. Maybe Gren would want a rematch.

Whatever. He just needed out of here for a while. In the morning, he would confront Snow. Get her to straighten up. Get her to talk to someone who wasn't fucking _Bluebeard_.

"Mister Wolf?"

Bigby turned on his heel, his gaze trailing down, down, down to rest on TJ's shining eyes and weak smile. With no small amount of hesitation, he crouched down to be at his level. To save the boy's poor neck from having to crane up at him. He was not prepared for TJ to flop inelegantly into his arms, little green fingers tangling themselves into his shirt.

"Thanks for helping us. And for telling me about Europe. Maybe you could take us there someday?"

Bigby smiled, his shoulders finally relaxing.

"Yeah, kid. I'd love to."

Snow would probably throw a fit, glamours or no, but Bigby figured they deserved a vacation. TJ deserved to be able to see the world he called home.

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of a nothing fic, I know, but I still had fun writing it. My words were: emotion, pity, wolves, city, border, heatstroke, habit, brawler, collision, hatch.


End file.
